Queen Rania a YouTube Visionary

Jordan's queen generated nearly 3 million views

BAGHDAD — Queen Rania of Jordan has been honored with the first YouTube Visionary Award for her efforts to encourage young people to tackle stereotypes of Muslims and Arabs, her office announced.

“YouTube encourages us to be active participants in a global conversation, making our voices heard, giving us the power to broadcast ourselves, increasing knowledge of each other, breaking down the barriers between us clip by clip,” Dubai-based satcaster Al-Arabiya quoted the monarch as saying.

“It is a pleasure to accept the first YouTube Visionary Award in this spirit,” she added.

The award follows the launch in April by Queen Rania, wife of Jordanian King Abdullah, of her own Internet channel on YouTube.

At the time she bemoaned the fact that despite the Internet allowing people across the globe to connect with each other “we still remain very much disconnected.”

“There’s a whole world of wonder out there that we cannot appreciate with stereotypes,” she said. “I want people to know the real Arab world, to see it unedited, unscripted and unfiltered, to see the personal side of my region, to know the places and faces and rituals and culture that shape the part of the world I call home.”

Her YouTube channel has proved hugely popular.

“To date, the channel has generated nearly 3 million video views and received more than 43,000 messages from users around the world,” Rania’s office said.

“Queen Rania sets the standard for breaking down stereotypes and her YouTube videos are nothing short of inspirational,” Al-Arabiya quoted YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley as saying. “It is both a pleasure and an honor to present her with this much-deserved tribute.”